Discussion (16) ¬

There’s something a little schizoid about the last few strips. It looked in #55 like Zach was ambushed and panicked. But in #54 it seemed he knew he only had one more day, and leaving the money for Jo in this strip also shows planning and preparation. And come to think of it, letting people draw false conclusions might not tweak the “truthiness” headache the way a deliberate misstatement, even an obvious one, does. Last one should be veddy eenterestink.

My hunch is that he was expecting to be disposed of, but what shocked and panicked him was his sudden realisation that they wouldn’t take him out surgically but would be comfortable dealing a large amount of collateral damage in eliminating him.

there is that but have any of you seen the movie phenomenon? in the end it was hinted that the main character who was dying left behind a child among the other legacy’s that he left. he was a normal person who suddenly had a super powered brain to the point that near the end he’d developed a kind of telekinesis. that let him move things with his mind. he could also sense other people some how.

Are we supposed to sympathize with Jo? She’s an extremely unsympathetic character – her reckless attraction to power and danger makes her a hazard to both herself and those around her. She clearly was a pretty negative influence on Thwip (“Ooh, you’re so dangerous…Now I’m going to dump you because you’re not dangerous enough anymore”) and I can’t exactly call her a good influence on Zach.

Zachary’s fate might also be seen as a refutation of themes in Fans, where characters’ specialized knowledge often leads them to triumph against the “webmasters” of society: the wealthy, the shadow government operatives and other high-level manipulators. What the Fans had that Zachary doesn’t is true community. Zach tries to relate to others but his power is ultimately isolating, much like Peter’s guilt.